Questions tagged [roman]
For questions about Roman mythology and legends.
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Who was the first to depict long-tailed fauns?
I have seen several pieces of artwork that depict fauns with long, tufted tails. I initially thought this was just something that C.S. Lewis had made up*, but now I'm curious.
Who was the first person ...
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Why is the use of Greek or Roman names inconsistent today?
Today almost all of of the gods are mostly referred by their Greek names, with Hercules and Cupid being two notable exceptions.
Is there any reason why we mostly use Hercules and Cupid, instead of ...
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How is πππππππ, a.k.a Catamite, the Etruscan form of Gadymedes?
It's obvious why πππππππ is catamite, but not how the Etruscans got it from "Gadymedes".
Is it just "We know they're the same character / name, but we dunno how the Etruscans got ...
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What is the greek/roman myth with woman proud of her three sons but they die
I remember (and I may be mis-remembering some things) a myth where there was a mother and her three sons doted over her and ran for her every wish. The three sons carried her somewhere and got her ...
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Besides Apollo, no main Roman god shared the name of its Greek version -- why?
Was this deliberate or is it more than we decided upon the correspondence and the Romans did not see them necessarily as the exact same god?
If deliberate, did the Romans want to separate their ...
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What is the source of the idea that Medusa was a priestess of Athena?
Medusa is a monster in Greek mythology known for being associated in some way with the gods Poseidon and Athena. By Poseidon she conceived a pair of twin sons, namely the winged horse Pegasus and some ...
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What portals are there in mythologies?
I'd be interested to know about the mentions of portals in mythologies. By portals, I mean accesses/gates towards other locations, worlds, dimensions. I've found this notion several times but in my ...
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Was there a Roman festival where people dressed in skins?
In the middle of a discussion on different pagan Roman festivals, the Talmud in Tractate Avodah Zara 11b describes a certain Roman festival:
"Rav Yehuda says that Shmuel says: They have another ...
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Is it the Muses depicted on the façade of 100 Broadway, Manhattan?
The American Surety Building (also known as the Bank of Tokyo Building) is at 100 Broadway in Manhattan, in New York City. The building's façade is designed to look like the front of a Classical Greek ...
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Is there any pre-modern attestation for Telephassa being a daughter of Nephele by the River Nile?
In Greek mythology, Telephassa's claim to fame is that she is, going by the commonest version of the genealogy, the mother of Kadmos [Cadmus], who built the citadel of Thebes in Boiotia [Boeotia]; of ...
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Which specific ancient sources did NOT consider Kronus and Chronos to be the same being?
Iβve always heard that Kronus (Titan of the Harvest) and Chronos (God/Personification of Time) are often confused by modern people but were actually considered two distinct beings in Ancient Greece. ...
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In what ancient source, if any, does the infant Hermes disguise himself as Ares?
According to this Answer to a Question regarding whether the Greek messenger-god Hermes was born mortal or not, the Third Vatican Mythographer, a mediaeval Latin text, knows of a version of the ...
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Colosseum: religious significance of setting sun and moon?
While studying the geography of ancient Rome, and particular the position of the Colosseum, I noticed on a live webcam time-lapse replay of the Colosseum, that the full moon and sun settles over (or ...
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What would a Roman want to achieve with writing inscriptions and magical signs on bronze nails?
I was strolling through the Wikipedia page on bronze and found a picture of bronze nails from Roman times. Under the picture is a text saying
Roman bronze nails with magical signs and inscriptions, ...
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Greco-Roman stories of a mother losing her daughter?
I am looking for Greco-Roman stories of a mother losing her young daughter and the grief that takes place as a consequence of such. I am writing a play where a similar thing occurs and would like to ...